Star Fog Effect

Author: FotoFects Author's URL: http://www.fotofects.com More by this author

Added:Mar 18, 2005 Rating:

Level: Experienced Software: Photoshop

Simulate a long exposure photograph taken with a fog and star filter.

1. Open the image for editing.

2. Duplicate the current layer (Ctrl+J) and add a layer mask (Layer> Add Layer Mask> Reveal All).

3. With the layer mask selected, use the "Apply Image" tool to apply the following properties:

Source: filename
Layer: Merged
Channel: RGB
Invert: Uncheckmarked
Blending: Normal
Opacity: 100%

Click OK.

4. Select the top layer that contains a layer mask and apply a "Diffuse Glow" (Filter> Distort> Diffuse Glow) with the following properties:

Graininess: 0
Glow Amount: 10
Clear Amount: 20

Click OK.

5. Duplicate the current layer (Ctrl+J).

6. On the top layer, apply a "Motion Blur" (Filter> Blur> Motion Blur) with the following properties:

Angle: 45º
Distance: Size of the stars that will appear in this image.

Click OK.

7. On the middle layer, apply a "Motion Blur" (Filter> Blur> Motion Blur) with the following properties:

Angle: -45º
Distance: Same as the "Distance" in step 6.

Click OK.

8. Set the top two layer's blending mode to "Screen".

9. Use the "Unsharp Mask" to sharpen the top layer and apply the same filter to the middle layer (Ctrl+F+).

10. With the top layer's layer mask selected, increase the "Contrast" to "50" using the "Brightness/Contrast" tool (Image> Adjustment> Brightness/Contrast). Repeat this step for the middle layer's layer mask.

11. Adjust the opacity of the top two layers to increase or decrease the strength of this effect. Rollover the image in this step to see the original image before this technique was applied.